Enjoy our green spaces

But leave no trace – Simon King explains why

One of the great things about living in the UK is ready access to a rich and varied countryside. From our great rolling landscapes through to our local park, getting outdoors benefits our health and enables us to connect and learn about nature. An impressive 71M people annually visit our national parks and a staggering 128M enjoy time on our beautiful beaches. And Bristol has some of the best green spaces of any city in the UK. So it’s really important that whilst enjoying this great resource, we also nurture and protect it, allowing everyone continued enjoyment for the future.

A simple practical step easily taken by us all is picking up your litter. As a nation we drop enough rubbish every year to fill Wembley Stadium four times over. We now annually phone the RSPCA more than 7,000 times to report pets and wildlife injured by litter. And 80% of the rubbish in the sea, or which you might see washed up on the beach, comes from the land.

So when visiting and learning about our countryside, lets all leave it as we love to find it – with no trace.

For further information why not not visit the Avon Wildlife Trust site, which provides an invaluable learning resource about Bristol’s green spaces or Simon’s own site, which includes some fantastic webcam and video content, alongside ideas on how to improve your garden as a wildlife habitat.